Chinese New Year is about family, food, and lots and LOTS of red and gold decorations! People start buying and making decorations weeks before the Chinese New Year. Houses are covered in flowers and decorations, people buy new clothes to wear, and families gather together to celebrate. To get into the holiday spirit, my boys and I did a few crafts to help decorate the house and to teach them about the history and meaning behind the holiday.
Make a Lantern
Lanterns are displayed everywhere during the Chinese New Year. Before Chinese New Year, people start decorating their houses with lanterns covered with lucky symbols and vibrant colors to bring in luck, fortune, and happiness into their homes.
The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the new year, which is also the first full moon. During the festival, people light lanterns and set them afloat into the sky, or adrift into lakes, rivers, or the sea with their wishes for the new year. You can recreate the beautiful image of a sky full of lanterns by coloring in and decorating lanterns for your house or classroom!
There are many ways to make a lantern for Chinese New Year. You can simply cut the shapes out of colored paper (Make it a math activity and talk about the shapes you would use to decorate the lantern). Or you can find a template and use various art materials to make the lantern your own!
Here are the links I used to make lanterns with my sons:
https://owlswellblog.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/3-quick-and-easy-chinese-new-year-crafts/
http://planetforward.ca/blog/chinese-new-year-lanterns-an-eco-friendly-craft-for-kids/
http://www.crafty-crafted.com/festive-crafts/ang-pao-ball-lantern/
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Chinese-New-Year-FREEBIE-2356602
Make a Dragon
I love the idea of the Dragon. Nobody really knows where the idea of this mythical beast came from, but there is speculation of its origin. Some people think it might have been a whale, alligator, or some sort of animal seen from afar that started the idea.
Others think the idea of the Dragon came from dinosaur bones that have been dug up. How else would you explain the size and shape of the bones?
My favorite is the idea that clans in China used to choose an animal to represent their group. As they came together to build bigger and bigger clans, they would combine their animals on a totem and the strongest, biggest clans would have the totems with the greatest number of animals on it. I love this idea because it symbolizes people coming together, working together, and supporting each other. I think this is the idea I will be sharing with my boys. We did, after all, worked together to create our Chinese New Year Dragon with all our handprints!
We used paint to create the body of the dragon with our handprints, but I’ve seen it done where people traced their hands on colored sheets of paper and cut out the shape of the hand instead of using paint.
Here is a Dragon craft link I found that inspired our family dragon:
Finger Paint a Flower Blossom Tree
During Chinese New Year, houses are decorated with bouquets of beautiful flowers. Did you know that different flowers have different meanings? Peach blossoms, plum blossoms, and peonies, are rich with symbolism. Red and pink flowers are popular because the color red is seen as lucky. Azaleas, narcissus, water lilies, and pussy willows are also widely used to decorate homes during Chinese New Year.
I recently found an activity where they painted flower blossoms onto a tree and I loved it so much I tried it with my sons. Can you tell which one was mine? Apparently a turtle blew into one of their trees and knock off all the flowers. Still, I love it.
Here is the link where I found the Blossom Tree Painting:
Make a Good Luck Charm!
If there is one decoration that is essential to Chinese New Year, it has to be “Good Fortune” signs. Red diamonds with gold symbols of lucky Chinese characters are posted everywhere in houses and businesses. People believe that these signs will bring luck and prosperity, longevity and happiness to their lives. Couplets with good wishes or statements are also displayed in hopes that the people living in the homes will have a healthy, prosperous year.
Since my boys are still learning how to write, I printed out a template for them to decorate. For my own signs, I printed the template out on red paper and went at it with a gold metallic marker. I also used these symbols to decorate the blank lantern template to give it a more dimensional look.
Here is a coloring page to make your own Good Luck Charm!
http://www.misspandachinese.com/chinese-new-year-craft-fu-%E7%A6%8F-lucky-word-sign/
Learn about the 12 Animals of the Chinese Zodiac!
Did you know that Jade Emperor called all the animals to enter a race to determine the order of the Chinese Zodiac? The Chinese Zodiac is always fun to learn about; finding your Zodiac Animal from the year you were born, seeing if the characteristics of the animals were true to your personality, and seeing the types of people you are compatible with (apparently I am not compatible with ANYONE in my family, but we make do!).
There are many ways to teach your children about the Chinese Zodiac. You can read a story about Race of the 12 Zodiac Animals, talk about the different personalities of each animal, and if you have little ones, teacher them the names of each animal and the order of numbers. Have your children try to figure out the results of the Race before you read them to story so you can discuss how the different strengths can help you succeed even if you are not the strongest or fastest person.
There are so many traditions for the Chinese New Year. I had a great time introducing some of the traditions to my boys with these crafts. I hope you have found a fun activity you can do with your own children to get them interested in learning about this vibrant holiday!
Have a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year!
Check out my FREE Chinese New Year Lantern Coloring Sheet!
